Cariad Comes With The West Winds

Galloping slipstream stallions…
streamlined in spectral eagle feathered garb…
coursing the Borderlands of the In-Between Worlds.
Peregrine falconed brow,
searching for a weakness to rip and tear through.
She’ll goshawk the woodlands,
and barn owl the night…
until she finds the Beacon she is searching for.
It beats, faintly, inside the heart
of a now frail old man…
whom deathly circumstance made her leave behind.
For decades, grieving,
he’d Trantered the Southlands and Rovered the North…
before finally settling into readiness and acceptance
somewhere Hermit-like in the Welsh Mountains.
The dark doorway to death is really an entrance into light,
a beginning up out of baby steps into soul flight,
where the mind and senses start firing upon all cylinders.
As his bony, wrinkled hand grasps tightly
the treasured lock of auburn hair
and the last of his breathing rasps out chokingly…
she is THUNDERING towards him
across the very last aching meadowed-mile
which is rapidly and finally decreasing between them.

• Author’s Note: “Cariad” is a Welsh word which translates into English as “Love” or “Sweetheart”. It is also widely used in Wales as a girl’s name.

Paul Tristram is a widely published Welsh writer who deals in the Lowlife, Outsider, and Outlaw genres.  He wrote his first poem as a teenager following his release from the (Infamous) Borstal ‘HMP Portland’, and he has been creating Literary Terrorism ever since.  His novel ‘Crazy Like Emotion’ is available to purchase right here . Also his collection of shorter fiction Kicking Back Drunk ‘Round The Candletree Graves' is available to purchase at https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DFMTSR4F Both books are published by Close To The Bone Publishing. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.